Zephany Nurse – as she’s known by her biological parents, turned 18 on Tuesday 28 April and celebrated the day for thr first time with her biological parents, Morné and Celeste Nurse. But she will also celebrate her birthday on 30 April, the day the woman who stole her gave as her birthday.

She recently won an appeal in the Pretoria High Court preventing the media from making her identity known after her 18th birthday.

Zephany was found after her biological parents’ second daughter, born four years after Zephany’s disappearance, started Grade 8 at a Cape Town school this year.

Her classmates kept telling her she looked just like a certain girl in matric. The two girls became friends and ultimately the younger girl’s father said he’d like to meet her new friend.

The resemblance between the two girls was so remarkable that the father called in the police. The older girl’s parents couldn’t provide any evidence of the girl’s birth.

The Hawks obtained permission for DNA tests to be done and the tests confirmed that Zephany was the missing girl.

The woman who brought Zephany up is not allowed to have contact with her and will appear in court on 29 May, charged with abduction.